Homzmart, a Cairo based startup ,has secured $15 million in a Series A investment round led by MSA Capital ,a global investment firm with over US$1.5 billion in assets under management, and Nuka Capital. Other participating investors include Rise Capital, Impact46, EQ2 Ventures, and Outliers Ventures. The investment takes Homzmart’s total raised capital to a total of US$17.2 million. With the funds raised, Homzmart plans on expanding across the MENA region.
Founded by Mahmoud Ibrahim, former COO of Daraz and Ibrahim Mohammed, former head of logistics at Jumia, Homzmart is a digital platform connecting home goods and furniture manufacturers and brands with end customers.
Launched in early 2020, Homzmart’s platform and its end to solutions enable both retailers, including IKEA and Home Centre by helping them reach customers and consumers who have a hassle free, one stop shop shopping experience, with greater choice and flexible financing options.
Homzmart’s platform incorporates artificial intelligence to optimize furniture sellers’ content, with intelligent tools offering customers purchasing decisions.
In the last 12 months, the startup has grown its sales by a multiple of 30, showcasing over 55,000 products from thousands of brands and merchants. The online marketplace is tapping into the rapidly expanding $8 billion industry where 14 million customers in the region search online for furniture monthly.
The global pandemic exposed the extreme vulnerabilities and inefficiencies of the Middle East’s archaic offline retail ecosystem, logistics, and supply chain. Into the void stepped Homzmart as the next generation, digitally enabled online marketplace and optimized logistics provider for large item retail addressing both consumer and enterprise customers.
Mahmoud and his team’s executional excellence, born out of deep experience managing ecommerce and fulfilment in challenging conditions with Jumia and Daraz, and guided by Chinese best practices from Alibaba, has resulted in a firm that has rapidly become the dominant online marketplace, fulfilment, and finance facilitator for all merchants and brands in the region.